TikTok US Reportedly Still Relying on ByteDance Internal Chat and AI Tools Post-Divestiture

Current and former employees report that the newly formed TikTok USDS Joint Venture maintains close operational coordination with its former Chinese parent company, ByteDance, regarding new features and policies. U.S. employees continue to use Lark, an internal communication system built by ByteDance, to interact and share information with their global counterparts. The U.S. division recently introduced Aime, a ByteDance-built AI assistant operating inside Lark, though leadership explicitly warned staff against sharing sensitive American user data with the chatbot. While some physical separation measures exist—such as requiring chaperones and banning laptops when U.S. employees visit global office floors—the technical reliance on ByteDance infrastructure remains heavily integrated. “There is a necessity to be able to speak to our global colleagues, but I can think of a thousand different ways we would be able to do that that wouldn’t necessarily violate at least the spirit of this agreement.” — Anonymous TikTok employee.